WHITE THORN. 71 



with the holly, the plants being- then collected in the 

 woods, as nurseries for the rearing of the Thorn do not 

 appear to have been generally established much prior to 

 the time of Evelyn. 



On a more extended scale, as the enclosing of corn-fields, 

 meadows, &c, Hawthorn hedges, according to Loudon, 

 were not generally planted in England till after the intro- 

 duction of the Flemish husbandry into Norfolk, about the 

 end of the seventeenth century. In Northumberland and 

 other parts of the north of England, the greater proportion 

 of quickset hedges have been raised within the last eighty 

 years. In Scotland, Dr. Walker states that the first Haw- 

 thorn hedges were planted by some of Cromwell's soldiers, 

 one instance being the road leading up Inch-Buckly-Brae, 

 in East Lothian, the other at Genlarig, at the head of 

 Loch Tay, in Perthshire ; the general fencing of what 

 used to be termed the outfield parts of farms did not, 

 however, take place till a much later period. 



The nature as well as the limits of our work will not 

 permit us to enter upon the subject of raising quick hedges 

 in detail, but this we regret the less as ample instructions 

 have already been given in various publications ; and we 

 can confidently refer our readers to what is contained in 

 the Encyclopedia of Agriculture on this subject, as well 

 as to the remarks upon fences by Mr. Stephens, in the 

 Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. We may, however, be 

 allowed to remark, that after trial of various modes, we 

 prefer planting the quicks upon a flat surface, either in 

 single or in double lines, the plants growing quicker and 

 forming a fence in a much shorter time than when planted 

 upon the edge of a ditch with a high mound or dyke 

 behind them. It must, however, be observed, that when 

 thus planted upon the surface, if intended to form a fence 



